


Ionization Energies

by nimitz



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Student/Teacher, M/M, Science, Student/teacher relationship, University
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-17
Updated: 2014-02-17
Packaged: 2018-01-12 20:33:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1199277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nimitz/pseuds/nimitz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>John Watson is a uni student who wants to be a doctor, he studies hard and gets good grades, but a new arrival turns his academic life around. will he graduate with honors or be swept up by Mr Holmes. (shit summary is shit. but there's eventual johnlock and lot of it.) </p><p>Made for the john lock gift exchange on tumblr for myangelofthursday<br/>Promt: “University AU: Sherlock is a chemistry professor,<br/>John is one of his students. Sherlock is arrogant but<br/>ingenious, and as time goes on John finds himself<br/>staring more at his blue eyes and perfect hair as<br/>opposed to taking notes on ionization energies."</p><p>Thank you for gifting me with a title, unbeknownst to you!<br/>I hope you like it!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ionization Energies

John was bored.  
And he had good reason to be; it'd been a full forty minutes into his double period on ionization energies and he'd already given up on taking notes.  
As his pensioner professor droned on about the importance of why ionization energy is always endothermic, he'd turned away in favour of staring straight  
out of the window.  
Sure, that probably wasn't the best use of his parents money, but he was stuffed in a class full of future PHD holding, eager minded students, all quickly taking notes like their lives depended on it, and he just felt listless.  
He'd been attending Northumbria University for a full 6 weeks now,  
made a lot of friends, been to several parties, got drunk with said friends at said parties, and even become quite the talking point of the campus as of late.  
At the last student booze up he got up on a table and made a good go of erotic dancing to Wham's rap.  
Shirt off, hair tussled and cat calls ringing out from the drunken crowd.  
John had to admit he was flying high, from what he remembered his moves had been  
on beat and he'd even managed a well timed sexy wink which had sent a number of people into a giggling frenzy.  
By the end he had garnered quite a few looks of both admiration, amusement and interest from the Ladies and gentleman alike. 

But even this wasn't enough to boost his waning spirits.  
He was still single, still hadn't gone home with anyone (even Molly had been caught coping off with a second year in the elevator during freshers week!)  
And while he'd always dreamed of being a Doctor, he felt sore about how his parents had pushed him to attend University in Northumbria. So far away from his  
home in Surrey. 

He had the grades to go to Cambridge and they knew it but they insisted he be  
here near his 'ancestral home'. Whatever that meant. 

And he really did need to pass this class in order to get a medium pass grade, but the  
tedious monotony of uni lectures really gets a man down. He only needed this class  
as a formality, a Doctor studying medicine has to take Chemistry if he wants to graduate and become a licensed Doctor, but his passion was the human body,; making others feel better and helping people, finding out how to set bones, operate, hands on medical practice!  
Not finding out about neutrons and protons. 

It didn't help that this class was lead by the worlds most boring teacher.  
Mr Fitzgerald; 67, balding, short stump of a man, no taller than John himself, which at only 5 foot 7 wasn't much of an achievement.  
The man wore tweed, every single day, without fail, some ghastly mustard shade of yellow (always yellow) waist coat, and a bright red bow tie.  
As if at any moment the fox hunting ban would be lifted and Mr Fitzgerald could be caught off guard and in the wrong clothes, heavens forbid! One must always be prepared.  
Even on the days he didn't teach him, John would catch site of the old codger running awkwardly across the college lawn to his next class; carrying way too many books at once, he'd gallop across the field, like a loose pony clutching the leaning tower of knowledge to his chest as it would teeter and threaten to spill over.  
An occasional skip in his step while he re-balance himself, as he flew across the green.  
John had a wager going with Greg, his football buddy, as to when he'd fall over.  
Greg had up to May 7th, John had May 8th through to August. 

He looked as much like a speeding penguin as a man could.  
John would almost call him cute if he wasn't the human embodiment of dullness on two legs. 

John tapped his pencil to a made up rhythm as his daydreaming intensified.

45 minutes passed.  
ugh, okay he needed to get a grip.

John just needed to get through this class, today. And then he'd go back to his  
dorm rooms and sink into his medical textbook for his next class, the real reason he  
was here studying in the first place. 

'you can do this man! just another forty five minutes and you're home free!' he yelled  
in his mind. 

Just as John ducked his head down to attempt some semi-serious note taking,  
a knock came at the door, followed by a large haired, blurred outline  
through the frosted glass window, it hovered for a moment, made up it's  
mind and came straight through the door, bringing with it Mrs Donovan,  
one of the university's secretaries.  
She was slim, well dressed, and had a harsh temper but kind smile, both of  
which John was privy to. 

"Mr Fitzgerald" She started. "You have a call for you in the office".  
Mr Fitzgerald looked over from his chalk board and widened his eyes in  
reply. 

Not used to expecting calls; Obviously not a social fella, John noted. 

"They say it's very important" Mrs Donovan continued, getting a little  
impatient.

"ah, well, yes... hmm... I shall... take that call... yes... just a moment".  
He mumbled, half to himself, half in reply. Trying haphazardly to decide what to do with his chalk.  
John saw the man panic on the spot as if trying to fight an internal struggle before apparently resolving himself to quickly packing up his things, fumbling though an apology to the class and heading out the door.

'Well, I wonder what that was about' thought John. 

Class finished pretty quickly after that, most of the students left after the teacher had gone, probably to go and study in the library or work on a paper due next lesson. 

John had the rest of the day to himself so he sent a quick text Greg asking if he wanted to meet up at his dorm after lessons and then left through the back door. 

His student rooms where on campus, as most first years where, and only a short walk away from the Football field on the other side of the science laboratory.  
John liked his uni, he hated to admit it as it wasn't his first, third of even sixth choice.  
But his stubbornness towards his parents chastisement was softened by how modern and clean the place was.  
It was open and colourful without being too loud, there was plenty of greenery and space with lots of areas to sit and chat.  
John was used to the fresh air and it reminded him of home.  
The facilities where new here and it was easy to find one's way around, he'd only been lost a few times in the beginning weeks and was already getting used to mapping out his classes.  
As well as being planned out and easy to navigate, John found the more he explored the wide campus the more he discovered small areas unknown to most. 

A Forgotten bench under a willow near the pond on the far side of the football field, where one could sit and be undisturbed for hours.  
A little path that through the trees around the drama block that cut his journey to the cafe short.  
Or the bathroom on the top floor of the old art wing which most people thought was a store room.  
He enjoyed exploring the unknown and having this secret knowledge of hidden places helped sooth his uneasiness. 

As he turned the corner out of the science block on the campus's East side, John's phone buzzed. It was Molly, asking if he wanted to come help her study after his class was finished in their usual spot. tapping out a hasty reply he quickly changed course  
and walked the small hill down to the Library. 

He waved to Molly as he approached and she beamed up at him in her shy yet pleasant way.  
Molly was a cute, quirky girl, who John shared Biology classes with twice a week.  
She had an awkward humor to her, a lopsided grin and fidgety hands.  
It had taken John a while to learn to chat to her as she always seemed uneasy or on edge with him, sometimes he would be embarrassed by her odd humor or say something too bluntly in a lesson which made her start flitting between trying to correct herself, or building up to sound offended with him which always caused John to cringe and chastise his honest demeanor. He'd never been good with girls and their emotions.  
But he soon learnt plenty about her and after some prodding found out she had a wicked and sometimes morbid sense of humor, she was a good student who took her work seriously and could be a forceful opponent when she believed in something or was pushed too far.  
As John came closer he saw that Molly wasn't alone, next to her with his back turned to John, was Mike Stamford, Molly's bio chemistry partner. And John's good mate. 

He'd met mike on the first day he arrived.  
They had checked in with the main reception building and been shown where he would be staying.  
John was handed a starter packet which included; a map, several handouts, a study guide, keys, laundry tips and other useful things students needed to live a semi-competent life. 

They had pulled up to the West wing dorms in his dads old camper van and started unloading the car.  
John's room was on the 5th floor, on the far end of the building facing the fountain to the main square. Each dorm building had a small park or square in the middle where students could congregate and mingle on warm summer days. 

He handed the keys to his mum who was bouncing up and down and jittering about how exciting everything was and how much fun he was going to have 'my big boy! All grown up and living on his own!' 

They all took it in turns to pile into the lift with case upon case and make the climb to the fifth floor, 'thank god for lifts' John though, he was a sporty guy, always had been. Captain of the football team in lower school and a rugby star in 6th form, but even he had to admit the thought of hefting a suitcase full of medical text books up 5 flights of stairs was enough to make anyone Blanche. 

On his second trip up carrying a big box of sports trophies, memorabilia and a small potted plant balanced precariously on the box's lid, John could hear his dad chatting away to someone about 'his son the Doctor'.  
Blushing a little John picked up the pace to his room intent to put a stop to any further embarrassment. He swung around his apartment door, dumped the box a little too haphazardly on the bed, causing the plant to roll off the box , bounce on his bed and do a little half hearted escape to the floor pissing soil over John's sheets as it went.  
Cursing under his breath John rounded on his father, who, to his shock was half way into an another students dorm room across the hall from where John's was, talking animatedly to someone John couldn't see . 

After a few awkward chuckles from John, a broad smile from Mike and subtle prod in the ribs to his dad from John he managed to crowbar his father away from his new target and tasked him with unboxing.  
Mike was the first person John had met at uni and he'd instantly liked his easy going nature and warm smile.  
The two quickly became friends and studied together often. 

John's mind reflected on this as he placed his bag down at their table and greeted his science buddies.  
He sat in the chair across from them in their usual space near the computers and easily fell into their newly acquired rhythm. 

Half an hour and some well dog eared flash cards later and John's phone went off, it was Greg, asking if John wanted to go out After the game this Sunday for celebratory drinks. Eagerly agreeing John sent a quick reply and looked up just in time to see Molly giggling at Mike who had been so caught up in their quick fire round he'd sprayed cards all over the table and onto the floor. 

Hiding their laughter as best as they could they tidied up the cards and called it a day.

**Author's Note:**

> Oh gosh!! I'm so sorry I haven't updates this in so long!  
> I'm planning on re-doing this whole thing and picking it up again! I have some great material for it but I just need to make a head way with the plot and see where it can go, there are so many options to this and I love writing it! 
> 
> (Those of you who have read the original version of this story know just when it was uploaded and just how bad of a person I am) 
> 
> Follow my tumblr for more updates or sin whichever you want   
> http://nimitztheficsinner.tumblr.com/
> 
> This chapter was re-vamped and the second version reads much better, it's a lot more upbeat and a lot less sullen than the old version!  
> I hope you like it just as much. 
> 
> We meet Mr Holmes next chapter and his gosh darn dazzling eyes.


End file.
